


Laugh Like Me Again

by ch1mer1cal



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everyone Is Gay, Everyone is Trans, Gen, Trans Male Character, don't expect any gayotix; it won't happen, follows modern game canon aside from a few things borrowed from archie, found family time, no beta read we die like maria
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2020-10-13 16:10:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20585300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ch1mer1cal/pseuds/ch1mer1cal
Summary: Charmy starts a new life as a new self, finding the family he never thought he needed.





	1. Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> hooty hoo prologue time i promise it won't all be like this it gets more lighthearted  
also yes this is about charmy bee from sonic, im surprised too

Tonight would be the night he finally escaped the life he had. He was a Prince, even if nobody else in the Hive thought so, not even his parents. He had his plan set in stone, and he memorized all of the hiding spots in the castle. He knew that this had to be successful, or else something worse than the fabrication of his status as a legitimate heir to the throne would happen to him. He was fully aware of the danger, but he wasn't sure if living a lie as a Princess (and later, a Queen) for potentially the rest of his life was better than dying.

As carefully as his trembling hands would allow, he opened the escape door that led down to a hidden series of tunnels that led to separate rooms of the castle, in the case that the royal family was in danger. Included in these rooms was the royal storage, which contained the one thing he was not leaving without: the helmet meant for the Prince. If he wouldn't be given it because they didn't see him as a Prince, then he'd have to take it for himself. He made sure that gravity didn't take full control of the door by lowering it slowly behind him (or on top of him, more accurately speaking).

He was, at six years old, not the greatest flier, and he wasn't fully trained at making honey in the case he couldn't find any source of food once he was gone, but he thought he could manage himself. He'd been through these tunnels before, as part of practicing evacuation in the case his parents weren't able to help him find his way through. Now he wasn't sure if they'd help him in an emergency ever again. The room he was headed wasn't as vital as the royal quarters and storage, but could still be need to be accessed quickly.

Once he finally found the room he needed to be in, he carefully landed and kept his footsteps very gentle as he made his way to the jackets. Knowing he would have to keep the lights off, he got his eyes used to low light before his escape. He opened the closet door, wincing as it creaked slightly. These drone jackets had few in a size that fit him, but he found the smallest one and left it unzipped, as to not make any unnecessary noise for any guards to hear. Leaving the closet as he first saw it, he closed the door. He went through the same process with the shoes. Find something that fits, make it look like you were never there, leave. He then looked down at hands. If he was going to be in the real world, he thought, then these silk gloves wouldn't do! He found the spare gloves and slipped them on, shoving the other pair in one of the jacket's pockets. As he left, he noticed he forgot to close the emergency door and kept a mental note to not do that again.

He continued through the dark tunnel system for quite some time before finding the storage. The room was similarly dark, but was much less organized than he expected. He found and opened the glass container holding the thing he needed the most. His parents would have known who took it, but he closed it after taking out the headgear anyway. He made sure his antennae went slightly through the openings for them before slipping it over his head upside-down, as to hide his hair to the best of his ability. He wasn't sure if a haircut would be easily available to him, so this was the best he could do for the time being. He looked around to see if there was anything else he needed. He saw nothing else, so he went back to the tunnels, heading for his room.

His rug was still displaced when he opened the escape door. Easily entering the room, now came the hardest part: leaving the life he had. He knew he couldn't live here anymore, but life would get so much harder from here on out, especially if no one found him and took him in. But that was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Right? He was having second thoughts at the best possible time, moments before he would escape. He quickly made up his mind, but had trouble managing the ability to open the window and escape. On an internal count to three, he opened it up and flew as fast as his wings could allow. He was free, but it took awhile for it to be liberating. When it finally hit him, tears pricked at the edge of his eyes and he got a lump in his throat that he'd been familiarizing himself with lately. He wiped his tears to see the sunrise, knowing that he was flying into not only a new day, but a new life.


	2. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A crocodile and a chameleon take a walk, but their day takes a turn towards not being a walk in the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry this didn't come out sooner i was planning on posting chapters 2 and 3 back to back (you'll see why at the end of the chapter) but i fell out of the hyperfixation faster than expected but i promise chapter 3 won't take 500 years and if i break that promise slap me in real life with an eel

He flew for quite some time. He was already tired from not sleeping that night, but flying for that long made him exhausted. He found a creek and a field generously decorated with flowers of various types and colors, and decided to land there. Disposing of the gown he was wearing and the gloves he had in his pocket in a bush, he looked at his reflection in the water. He didn't see a Princess anymore. But he didn't see a Prince, either. He just saw… himself. A young bee, alone. He wasn't sure if this was something to smile about.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

"Wake up," Espio opened the curtains in his friend's room (after navigating such a pigsty without stepping on anything), allowing the noon's sun to shine right on Vector's face.

"Espio! Let me sleep!" he whined.

"It's 12:15. You need to get up."

"You're not my dad!"

"We both know I'm the mature one out of us."

"If you want to start paying taxes, be my guest. I'm going back to sleep," he turned opposite to the window and shut his eyes. Espio grabbed one of many CDs left out of their cases in a stack, just asking to get damaged, and played it in the nearby CD player. A familiar 80s tune began to play.

"We're no strangers to love…." (Espio's choice was very much intentional, but he wouldn't tell you that.)

"No! Not Rick Aardvark!" Vector jumped out of bed to stop the audio only to see Espio in the way, snickering. "I'm up, I'm up! Just stop playing that song, please!" he begged, on his knees and all.

Espio turned off the CD player. "Why do you even have that album if you can't listen to it?"

"It's a gift from my parents. I keep it for their sake."

Espio was quick to change the subject, never wanting to talk much about parents. "I was hoping we could go outside. Get some fresh air?"

"And do… what?" It wasn't like they had plans today, but it was a strange request nonetheless.

"Have a nice walk. Enjoy the weather?"

Vector started genuinely considering this. After all, it costs $0 to go outside on your own time every once and a while. "Well, It's not like we have anything better to do, huh? How does after breakfast sound?"

"I already ate."

"After _my_ breakfast?"

"You're lucky I'm so patient, Vector," he left Vector's room and entered his to do… whatever ninja chameleons do while waiting for their friend/older brother to eat their brunch. Vector, unsurprisingly, finished up quickly, but forgot about Espio's request until he saw said roommate in the television's reflection. Espio merely sighed, and the two left at varying degrees of embarrassment.

The field nearby that Espio had in mind was near a body of water and had a unique array of flowers, adding some much-needed color to the endless green of the field. Unlike most days, however, there was someone by the creek. A small bee wearing a helmet.

"What's a kid doing here by themselves?" Vector muttered. He and Espio exchanged looks of confusion and worry, and wondered what the best thing for them to do (and how to go about it) was.

"I may not be the most outgoing, but I'm also not the one with the mouth bigger than that bee's head…," Espio tapped his foot in contemplation. He didn't get to think for very long, because Vector was already walking up to the child. Espio disappointedly shook his head and quickly followed.

Vector kneeled down in an attempt to not be so intimidatingly tall. "You alright, kid?"

Upon seeing Vector's large array of teeth and stature, the young boy's eyes widened in fear. While he slowly turned away, Espio disappointedly rubbed his temples.

Vector frantically looked over at his friend for any advice. "I think I scared them," the "them" in question was too scared to move an inch, and (very audibly) gulped. If he died here, he thought, at least it would be rather quick.

Espio took it upon himself to fix the issue, knowing the other would make the situation worse than it already was. "If you'll excuse my friend here, we just want to know if you're alone. It's not very often children your age are allowed to run about without supervision…," he looked at the terrified face and added what he should have said first. "He's not going to eat you, he had breakfast before he left," the child did not respond. "Can you tell us your name, at least? Mine is Espio," he extended a hand out to the bee, and he took it for a gentle handshake.

He probably should have practiced not sounding like a girl, but he also realized this was his first opportunity to truly be himself. With the best six-year-old-boy voice he could muster, he answered with his true name. "Charmy," he thought his voice sounded pretty terrible, but Espio didn't question it in the slightest.

"Do you need anything from us, Charmy?" Charmy thought about this for a few seconds, and said the first thing that came to mind, baffling the other two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> subscribe for more brotherly chaotix goodness


	3. Scissors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strange request, and then another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nobody slapped me with an eel? im disappointed. anyways writing this while also writing animal crossing fanfiction has been rather... interesting!

"A haircut!?" Vector exclaimed. At first, he was surprised that the kid had hair in the first place. But out of all the things this kid could need, they needed their hair cut? 

They couldn't afford to take him to get it done professionally, so they offered the next best thing. An exclusive Chaotix offer, the kitchen-scissors-in-the-bathroom haircut! For reasons neither could comprehend, Charmy trusted the two of them enough to follow them back home.

"How short do you want it, kid?" Vector asked. Charmy removed his helmet, revealing long black hair, to more surprise of the other two.

"Short." was the only response.

"But… how short? Shoulder-length? _...Buzzed?_" he snickered, to the unamusement of both of the other people in the room.

Charmy ran his fingers through his hair a few inches from his head, and pointed to where he stopped. "Short."

"Alright, let's see…," Vector rummaged through drawer after drawer, looking for something to pull back the kid's hair. "This should work!" he started to put the child's hair through a rubber band before Espio grabbed his wrist.

"Are you trying to make this child in pain? You can't use plain rubber!" it was much less in anger of his cohort's perceived incompetence and more in worry of Charmy's scalp.

"You got any other ideas? It's not like either of us have hair, you know," he said, pointing to his head (which, lo and behold, did not have hair on it).

"That iron grip of yours should do," An exasperated sigh from their guest told them they needed to quit the bickering and start cutting hair.

It was very clearly done by someone without hair, but it was short, and wasn't a "I need to speak to your manager" haircut, and that's what Charmy wanted.

He looked up at Vector. "Thank you." He hopped out of the chair he was standing on and headed for the front door.

"Where are you going?" Vector asked. His detective instincts kicked in and made the stunning realization that there was a good chance the kid was gonna say "I don't know."

Charmy shrugged. "Somewhere else, I guess." It was a close enough answer for Vector, and, as much as he and Espio both knew the next thing to come out of his mouth would be the most impulsive thing he'd do all month (and he ordered several pizzas last week, but ate only half of them), he was going to say it.

"If you don't have anywhere else to go… you can stay here for a little while. If you wanna."

All three of them were standing completely still for a moment. Espio glared at Vector, Charmy stared at the floor in thought, and Vector looked back at Espio with a sympathetic look he didn't often have. Charmy reasoned that this place was his best and most secure option. If he went to some sort of shelter, he could be found more easily, as that's where the Hive would be looking for him. If these two wanted to eat him, they would have by now, and he also had a perfectly functional stinger. He was preparing to put his helmet back on and leave before Vector made the offer, but he ended up turning back around and flopped onto the nearest couch, falling asleep in minutes.

Espio was _still_ glaring at the other. Not mad, but not incredibly disappointed, either.

"What would you have done?" Vector whispered, careful not to wake up their new housemate. The question didn't need an answer, but Espio knew very well that this was the start of a rabbit hole that could take months to come out of. What in the world was a child that couldn't be older than ten doing all alone? The investigation to beat all other investigations they had done together had just begun, for better or for worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok thank you *vanishes for another 5 months*

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first published fic that isnt wattpad garbage i hope you got some enjoyment


End file.
